Russians fire at Ukrainian plane as tensions in Crimea escalate

Russian forces fire warning shots at Irish-officered EU mission

In Simferopol a pro-Russian militiaman watches pro-Ukrainian protestersA pro-Russian unit takes an oath to the Crimean government in Simferopol. Vasily Fedosenko.Armed members of the first unit of a pro-Russian armed force, dubbed the 'military forces of the autonomous republic of Crimea' march before the swearing-in ceremony in Simferopol, Ukraine. Some 30 men armed with automatic weapons and another 20 or so unarmed, were sworn in at a park in front of an eternal flame to those killed in World War II. APA Ukrainian serviceman walks on the roof of the base as a uniformed man believed to be a Russian serviceman stands guard at a Ukrainian military base near Sevastopol. ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin. AP

A Ukrainian border patrol plane came under fire near the regional boundary with Crimea as tensions increased further in the contested peninsula yesterday.

The Diamond light aircraft was flying with three crew on an observation mission when shots were fired. No one was injured.

But the confrontation, coming just hours after Russian forces reportedly laid landmines along the border and fired warning shots over the heads of a European observer mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), provided worrying evidence of the rapidly rising temperature in Crimea.

An Irish Army colonel was among the team of unarmed European monitors. Col Paddy McDaniel, originally from Monaghan, has been on secondment with the OSCE in Vienna for the past year.

Meanwhile, an investigative Russian newspaper published photographs of lines of landmines being laid near the second entry point to Crimea close to the villages of Chongar and Novooleksivka.

Evgenii Feldman, the Moscow-based photographer who took the picture, said: "The villagers don't want to be on the front line. In Chongar, the school has been closed since Wednesday. On the internet, locals are talking about the impossibility of studying under the fire of armoured personnel carriers."

Yesterday, Ukraine's foreign minister again called for direct negotiations with Russia to resolve differences over the revolution that provoked the collapse of the Moscow-linked government of President Viktor Yanukovych.

"Our priority is a peaceful settlement of the Crimea conflict," said Andriy Deshchytsa. "We will not give up Crimea and will do all possible to protect Ukrainian borders and territorial integrity."

But Sergei Lavrov, the Russia foreign minister, condemned attempts to portray Russia as responsible for confrontation in Ukraine and said the Kremlin would not negotiate until it was treated differently. "This crisis was not started by us," he said. "We are ready to continue dialogue on the understanding that this dialogue should be honest and partner-like, without attempts to portray us as one of the sides in the conflict."

Crimea's officials pledged to press ahead with its proposed referendum on joining the Russian Federation next weekend. Sergei Aksyonov, the premier of the region, said: "No one is able to cancel it. It has been called at short notice to avoid provocations, as the situation in Ukraine is quite tense."

Russia also warned that it had the grounds to stop American inspections of its nuclear arsenal as authorised by arms controls treaties. "We are ready to take this step in response to the announcement by the Pentagon about stopping cooperation between the defence institutions of Russia and the United States," a statement said.

The developments came as Michael Flynn, the head of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, said that it had detected a Russian troop build-up for "seven to 10 days" around Crimea before the Kremlin seized control of the area.

As the Russian forces in Crimea solidified the divisions between the territory and Ukraine, pro-Russian protesters pressed their claim for a vote on their future across the eastern half of the country. In Ukraine's eastern cities, which are dominated by Russian speakers, hundreds of people gathered in squares to denounce the new Kiev government as a front for extreme right-wing movements and call for a vote on their future status.

At the feet of a Lenin statue in Donetsk, hundreds of Russian-speakers responded to a call to rally in support of Pavel Gubarev, the local protest leader, who was arrested last Thursday after proclaiming himself the people's governor.

Organisers called Mr Gubarev a victim of political repression and demanded the release of the 30-year-old businessman, who briefly seized control of the city hall last week.

"We are calling for the freedom of Pavel," said Robert Donia, the organiser.

"We want a vote on the status of the region. The people are for a referendum."

A couple on a platform offering a book to sign-up for a referendum were doing a brisk trade. Nearby stood a table with a box in which people could drop written ballots. Lilila Khardasheva, a doctor, said eastern Ukraine needed a vote on autonomy because people were fearful of more militant elements in the new pro-Western coalition installed in Kiev. She said Donetsk was putting its faith in Vladimir Putin,.

"If Putin came on to this stage, the whole city would be here to cheer him," she said.

Similar protests were reported in Kharkiv, a Russian-language city that is the country's second-biggest.

UK computer experts also reported that Ukraine was coming under a widening barrage of hostility that appears to originate from cyber-attacks in Russia. Dozens of computer networks in Ukraine had been infected by an aggressive new cyber weapon called Snake. It bore similarities with Stuxnet, the malware that the US used to disrupt Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010.

Snake, also known as Ouroboros after the serpent in Greek mythology, gave attackers "full remote access to the compromised system", BAE Systems said.